Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco Amicus Brief

Last updated March 21, 2013.

Case Information:Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco, No. 12-17803 (9th Cir. Filed March 14, 2013)

At Issue: Challenging San Francisco, California’s safe firearm storage law. This lawsuit challenges San Francisco’s ordinance requiring that a handgun kept within a residence be stored in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock. This ordinance was designed to address the problems created by unsecured handguns in the home, which are disproportionately tied to violent unintentional shootings, suicides, illegal gun trafficking and school shootings. Plaintiffs argue that the ordinance is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Law Center’s Brief: Our brief, filed in support of the City and County of San Francisco, argues that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Second Amendment opinions in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 130 S. Ct. 3020 (2010), safe storage provisions like San Francisco’s are valid, constitutional legal requirements. Moreover, the history of gun storage laws shows that San Francisco’s ordinance is consistent with the Second Amendment, and challenges to modern safe storage laws have been rejected.